A Conversation on Trauma and its Impact on Brain Development

Presented by Dr. Jean Clinton, Maria Vamvalis & Rahim Essabhai with I-Think Pop Up

Tags: brain development, learning, students, trauma

Understanding Trauma, Learning & the Brain

• The brain is the master organ 
  • It’s plastic, malleable (changeable) 
    • Neuroplasticity is present throughout life (kids can always reach their potential) 
    • Is disrupted by stress
  • Genes and the environment interact 
    • Educators are building the connections of children’s brain neurons 
• Majority of us won’t be traumatized by pandemic (because of buffers)
  • Close relationships
  • Predictability in routines and environment
  • Ability to moderate stress 
• Trauma:
  • Arises from an inescapable stressful event that overwhelms an individual’s coping mechanism 
  • The same traumatic event can be experienced and adapted by children differently
  • Adults need to buffer children from trauma
  • Children can’t learn unless we first help them feel safe, regulated and loved 
• Trauma-Informed:
  • Asking, “What’s happened to you?” instead of, “What’s wrong with you?”
  • Understanding that trauma leads to the formation of coping mechanisms 
  • Creating physical and emotional environments where needs are met
  • Being mindful of the classroom environment and our discipline and behaviour management
  • Thinking about cultural competence 
  • Believing that recovery is possible 

A Trauma-Informed Education System

• It’s essential to think about the education system being trauma-informed 
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
  • 2/3 of adults have had adverse childhood experiences
  • Events that have or could have led to trauma
• Recognizing that staff have experienced life events that influence their brain 
• Asking: Are policies and practices respectful of human rights and anti-oppressive? 
• Recognizing that a teacher’s stress and trauma can affect the biology, interaction and dynamics of the classroom 
  • The teacher creates the weather in the classroom 
  • Stress contagious can occur among teachers and students  
• The more we understand trauma, we can understand our responses and ourselves better
  • Asking: How do we navigate how we deal with our own stress and emotions as teachers? 
  • If you have a deep reaction to something, know that it comes from your own self and experiences
    • Stopping & pausing provides an opportunity to make a decision about which way you go
    • If we lose it with the kids, we must repair 
• Teacher’s college and professional development need to focus on understanding oneself
  • Becoming reflective practitioners (listening to gut and reactions) 
  • Social-emotional journey needs to happen outside of the classroom context
  • We have a professional responsibility to understand our own self first
• Relationships 
  • Connect before you correct 
  • Is not only about being nice 
  • Having students feel emotionally felt by you
  • Paying acute attention to a student’s physical cues (e.g., hypervigilance)
  • The adolescent brain can read the emotions in our faces
  • Building trust 
  • Showing that you care
  • Having and setting high, reasonable and accomplishable expectations
    • Asking, What do you want to accomplish? What’s important to you?
  • Challenging their growth
  • Search Institute – Developmental Relationship Framework
    • Express Care
    • Challenge Growth
    • Provide Support
    • Share Power
    • Expand Possibilities
• Children with Trauma
  • Haven’t build a model of adults as being predictable and dependable
  • Education may not be a priority for them 
  • May be hypervigilant
    • Teacher’s need to be a stress detective 
    • This is a child showing that they need your help 

Orienting Towards Collective Well-Being

• Needs to happen through Public Education
  • Creating opportunities for kids to learn about their interconnection to all things
  • Michael Fullan’s 6 C’s of Deep Learning
    • Creativity
    • Character Education
    • Collaboration
    • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
    • Communication
    • Citizenship
  • Students need to become agents of change 
  • We need to believe that kids are capable and competent 
  • Teachers learning about how students learn best 
• Asking, What are the traditions we have? (standards and expectations that tell us we must meet traditional Western expectations) 
  • e.g., Grade 1’s sitting in rows, exams/testing
• Systemic change requires understanding:
  • What is happening
  • The history of racism, colonization, etc.
  • How it is continuing to be perpetuated today
  • How it is still playing out in the classroom
  • How a lack of understanding can be re-traumatizing (even inadvertently)
  • Recognizing intergenerational trauma
  • It is an on-going journey to do this work 

Trauma-Informed Distant Learning 

• Communicating to children:
  • I’m here for you
  • You can do this
  • How can I help?
  • What’s important to you?
• Creating a sense of safety and connection
  • e.g., Reading relevant stories 
• Establishing:
  • Relationships
  • A sense of connection
  • A mindset 

Building Resilience 

• Creating structure, predictability 
• Recognizing grief is real
• Being reflective 
• Further intervention (if more serious and needed)

Guiding Questions

• How might trauma surface once students return to school?
• What does responding from a trauma-informed lens look, feel and sound like?
• Why do children have to come to an education system where they all have to learn the same things? 
• What do we need to do to make a difference for the next generation that steps into our educational system?

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